NEWTOWN -- A Newtown police lieutenant who continued to direct traffic at a construction site while other officers raced to the Sandy Hook Elementary School has received a written reprimand from the chief.

Some rank-and-file officers are upset with what they view as lenient treatment of the lieutenant and are discussing a vote of no confidence in Chief Michael Kehoe, department sources said.

Lt. George Sinko, a 24-year veteran, was off-duty and working a side job on Route 25 on the morning of Dec. 14. He remained there long after scores of other law enforcement personnel from across the area had responded to one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation's history, said sources familiar with the department's investigation into the incident.

Sinko arrived approximately two hours later, but his failure to respond immediately to the school where 20 first-grades and six staff members were killed did not result in any additional casualties, Kehoe said.

"He was not going to be a first responder. He was not on duty at that moment," Kehoe said. "When he did arrive, he was immediately given responsibilities that would have overwhelmed most officers, and he performed admirably."

Sinko was disciplined for "failure to carry his radio and failure to keep it on," Kehoe said.

But department sources said officers believe the disciplinary action would have been more severe were Sinko not friends with the chief and Capt. Joseph Rios, who conducted the internal affairs investigation.

"People want to vomit," one officer said.

The discontent is so great, according to two sources, that the Newtown Police Union may take a no-confidence vote in the chief. Union President Scott Ruszczyk declined to comment Thursday.

Since Dec. 14, Kehoe has been a highly visible and much-praised public face of the 45-member department, appearing with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to lobby for gun control, testifying before the state Legislature and speaking at national law enforcement seminars on the police response to the Sandy Hook shooting.

Kehoe responded sharply to the favoritism charge.

"There is fairness across the board and there is no disparate treatment of officers," the chief said. "As with all discipline within our agency, it is appropriate to the charges and what we can prove."

Word of the possible no-confidence vote took him by surprise.

"That's the first I've heard of it. I'd like to know the reasons they would think that because I'm at little bit at a loss to figure out why," Kehoe said.

Kehoe assigned Rios to conduct the investigation after the department received an anonymous written complaint earlier this year.

Department sources said the investigation determined that Sinko continued to work the road job even as countless police cruisers, including troopers from the State Police barracks in Bridgeport, raced by on the way to the school. Under the department's policy, all officers must immediately respond to an active-shooter call.

Kehoe declined to discuss any of the evidence that led to the reprimand.

"There was a general overall lack of communication that kept him at his (road) job," he said. Kehoe said he had also advised Sinko not to speak to a reporter regarding the incident.

He said Sinko had "an exemplary record" and has earned numerous commendations, including citations for bravery.

"Those are all things you have to consider when you consider discipline for any employee," he said.

The News-Times filed a Freedom of Information request for documents related to the complaint in June, but department officials and town attorney Nathan Zezunga said they couldn't be released until the investigation was completed.

Members of the Police Commission were briefed on the results of the internal affairs investigation during an executive session at their meeting on Sept. 3. Chairman Paul Mangiafico declined comment Wednesday, saying he would not discuss any matters that were the subject of the closed-door session.

Zezunga said Tuesday the report "has only been recently completed" and he had to review it before determining whether it would be made public.